Welt-shoe and method of making same.



APPLICATION FILED NOV, 10. 1917.

Pafented Apr. 15,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

' Fig.3;

G. H. BLACK.

WELT SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

APPLICATION FILED NOV, 10. 1917.

1,301,084; I PatentedApr. 15,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

w /xaz UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H.- BLACK, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASS IGNMENTS,TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ACORPORA- TION on NEW JERSEY.

'WELT-SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t 15, 1919 Application filedNovember 10, 1917. Serial No. 201;372.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE H. BLACK, acitizenof the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroeand. State of New York, have invented certain Improvements inlVelt-Shoes and Methods of Making Same, of which the followingdescription, in. connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating likeparts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the manufacture of welt shoes and to a methodand means for securing close shanks.

In the manufacture of welt shoes there are two conditions which tend toproduce fullness in that portion of the shank of the the portions of therib farther removed from its end. The two conditions work togetherbecause the extra thickness and stiffness produced by the wings of thecounter render it difficult to sew this portion of the shoe as closedown to the base or root of the sewing rib as it is practical to sew theportions in the forward portion of the shank.

In effortsto overcome these difiiculties and produce close shank shoes,which are desirable because of their more pleasing appearance and betterfit, various inventions have been made by which the counters have beenespecially shaped at this portion of the shoe; lasting machines havebeen equipped with special mechanism for preparing the shoe for sewingat the shanks; and special machines have been devised for forcinginwardly and fa tening the shoe stock at and adjacent to the ends of theinseam afterthe shoe was welted, so as to narrow the shank.

An object of this invention is to provide a method of obtaining-closeshanks by the practice of Which the shoe upper materials may be drawnsnugly about the last in the shank during the attachment of the shoeupper materials to the insole and maintained in said position. Anotherobject of the invention is to provide an improved insole havingcharacteristics which facilitate the practice of tllisIIlGtllOCl andcontribute to the production of close shanks.

In one of its aspects the method of this invention consists in producingan insole with a sewing rib to provide an anchorage for inseam stitchesin attaching a shoe upper to the insole providing additional anchoragefor the sewing rib at the rear part of the shank relatively to otherportions of the sewing rib, and then sewing theshoe upper materials tothe insole'and utilizing said anchored portion of the rib. at the rearpart of the shank to pull the upper materials snugly about the last andagainst the rib. In another of its aspects the invention consists inbending the rear end portion of the sewing rib inwardly away from theadjacent edge of the insole and fastening said portion in its inwardlybent position to hold it for the operation of sewing the upper materialsto the rib while it occupies said inwardly bent position. By themethod'of this invention the portions of material in the shank which arerendered bulky by the presence of the wings of the heel stiffener arecarried farther inwardly from the edge of the insole during the sewingoperation than are the portions of upper material in the forward part ofthe shank, and by reason of the additional anchorage provided for theinseam stitches at the rear part of the hank the upper materials aresecured in said inward position by the inseam. Thebending of the sewingrib inwardly not only locates it and the inseam of which it forms a partfarther from the inward edge of the insole and holds the end of the ribfrom being pulled outwardly, but also facilitates the sewing of theinseam close to the root or base of the rib. This reduces or eliminatesthe chance for the upper materials to be forced outwardly, by theoutward tipping of the rib, as for example under the pressure applied tothe shoein the heel attaching operation.

An important feature of this invention consists in a welt shoe insolehaving a sewing rib the rear end portion of which is formed and arrangedto provide additional anchor age for the inseam stitches relatively toother portions of the sewing rib. Another which is bent inwardly awayfrom the adj a-' cent edge of the insole and fastened in wardly bentposition. A machine which may be successfully used in the practice of;

the present invention is shown and described in a co-pending applicationSerial No.

201,371, filed by me on even date herewith. Other features of theinvention includ ng certain details of construction will appear from thefollowing description and W111 then be pointed out in theclaims.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows an insole having a sewing rib of a usualconstruct on.

Fig. 2, partly in transverse section, 1llus trates the step of bendingthe rear end portion of the sewing rib inwardlyaway from the adjacentedge of the insole.

Fig. 3 is a similar view showlng the steps of setting the sewing rib inits inwardly bent position by pressure exerted substantiallyperpendicular to the face of the msole, and by a blow applied in asimilar d1rect1on,and further illustrates the step of fastening thesewing rib in its inwardly bent'and set position. 7

Fig. 4. is a perspective view of an insole made in accordance with thisinvention.

Fig. 5 slhowsa welted shoe made by the practiceof the present methodand'the use of the insole shown in Fig. 4.

The insole chosen for illustration is of the type known as an Economyinsole comprising a leather body 2 relnforced by canvas 4: extendingacross the body of the insole and upwardly against the inner side of theleather-stock portion of the sewing rib 5.

e The first step in improving thisinsole in accordance with the presentmethod is to engage the rear end portion of the. rib and bend itinwardly away from the adjacent edge of the insole and downwardly towardthe body portion of the insole. This step is illustrated in Fig. 2 aseffected by thrusting or wedging the insole laterally between a worktable 8 and a resilient bending device 10. The inwardly and downwardlydirected pressure effected in this manner while the inner face of therib is unsupported tends to displace the rib inwardly and bend theconstituent parts of the rib to a position more remote from the edge ofthe insole than that occupied by it in Fig. 1 and farther inwardly thanthe portions of the rib in the forward part of theshank of the insole.The effect of this is to give more room between the edge of theinsole'and the outer face of the sewing rib within which to dispose'theupper material rendered, bulky in the rear portion of the shank by thepresence of as wing- 12 (Fig. '5') of atti e stiffener.

The position of therearportion .ofthe sew ing rib secured bythe'abovedescribedaction' ber 14; which may be thenoz zle of the tacking machine.The beating'is shown as effected by a blow from a hammer 16 shown as atack driver operating from the nozzle.

The inwardly bent position of the end portion of the rib is madesecure'bythe insertion of a tack 15 through said inwardly bent rib andinto the body of the insole, the tack being inserted by the hammer 16and preferably clenching its point on the work supporting table 8 toavoid a point projecting from the foot-engaging face of the insole. Someof the advantages of this invention may be obtained by treating only oneof the end portions of the sewing rib of'an insole, but preferably bothend portions aresimilarly treated as illustrated in Fig. 4.

When the insole thus produced and illus trated in Fig. 4. isincorporated in a shoe and the upper materials including the weltfastened to the rib by the inseam the positionof the end portion of therib with relation to theedge of the insole gives increased-space 7within which to dispose the relatively bulky upper materials overlastedand fastened at this portion of the'shoe, as compared with the lessbulky upper materials in-the forward portion of the shank, see Fig. 5,and produces what is termed a close shank, that is, a shank presentingno bulge at its rear part caused by the extra thickness of the uppermaterials in that part of the shoe. f

I The inwardly forced and bent-over portion of the sewing rib at therear end of the shank presents an undercut inner wall with which thechannel guide of the inseam sewing machine engages. This formation hasthe effect of guiding the shoe bottom and the bottom face of the channelguide into close proximity as the end portions ofthe inseam are beingsewed so that the inseaming machine is compelled to sew low or close tothe root of the rib at the ends of the inseam. This is in markedcontrast with the usual in sole condition wherein the sewing rib is morelikely than not to be bent outward and present the most diflicultcondition for sewing low.. By inserting a fastening in cooperativerelation with the sewing rib at its rear end the sewing rib is heldagainst outof the shoe during the heeling operation,

which pressure tendsto force the sides of the shoe outwardly,particularly if the sewing rib is inclined outwardly, is entirelyavoided. fThe tack'is not regarded as absolutely essential butexperience has indicated that it contributes to the benefits derivedfrom this invention. Obviously other fastenings than tacks might besubstituted. The tack 15 is preferably located immediately back of thepoint where the last inseam stitch shouldbe taken and as close aspracticable to that point. By reason'of this location, the tack is notliable to be struck by the sewing needle, thereby disturbing-thetack ordamaging the needle or the shoe and it serves its rib holding functionwith maximum e1? ficiency when so located. Furthermore, tacks solocated-constitute gages or guides for indicating to the sewing machineoperative the points at which to begin and end the inseam, these pointsbeing advantageously located at predetermined and uniform distances fromthe rear end of the shoe. It is considered good shoemaking practice toextend the inseam a uniform short distance back of the heel breast lineor location and this invention contributes to the successful] carryingout of that practice.

Having explained the nature of this inventionand described how it may bepractised, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States 1. That improvement in methods of obtainin g close shanksin welt shoes which consists in forcing the rear part of the sewing ribof the insole inwardly relatively to the forward part of the sewing riband away from the edge of the insole and sewing the upper to said ribwhile maintaining the rib in that position.

2. That improvement in methods of obtaining close shanks in welt shoeswhich consists in bending the rear portion of the sewing rib of theinsole in the shank inwardly relatively to the forward part of thesewing rib, securing the rear portion only of the rib in such inwardlybent position, and then welt-ing the shoe.

3. That improvement in methods of obtaining close shanks in welt shoeswhich consists in bending the rear portion of the sewing rib of theinsole inwardly away from the edge of the insole and relatively to thepart of the rib in the forward portion of the shank and downwardlytoward'the body of theinsole, inserting afastening to hold it in" theposition-thus secured,and sewlng the upper and welt to the rib along theshank.

4. That improvement in methods of obtaining close shanks in welt shoeswhich consists in disposing the sewing rib along the shank portionof-the'insole at an appropriately greater-distance from the'edge of theinsole in the rear part of the shank than in the forepart to allow forthe additional thickness'of theupp'er materials caused by the'stiffenerwings in the'rear partjof the shank, and sewing the upper materials tothe sewing rib so disposed.

taining close shanks in welt shoes which consists in bending'the rearportion of the sewing rib of the insole in the shank in wardly away fromthe edge of the insole and relatively to the forward part of'the sewingrib and beating said rear part of the sewing rib locally to set it inoverbent posi: tion.

6. That improvement in methods of ob taining close shanks in welt shoeswhich consists in bending therear portion of the sewing rib ofthe'insole inwardly away from the edge of the insole and relatively tothe forward part of the sewing rib and applying positioning-fixingpressure to said overbent portion in a direction substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the insole.

7 That improvement in Welt shoe insoles which consists in a sewing riblocated farther inwardly at the rear part of the shank than along theforepart of the shank to provide a width of feather along the shanksubstantially proportional to the thickness of upper in the rear part ofthe shank that includes the heel stiffener wings and the thickness ofthe upper materials in the forepart of the shank that do not include thestiffener wings.

8. That improvement in methods of making close shank welt shoes whichconsists in producing an insole with a sewing rib to provide ananchorage for inseam stitches in attaching a shoe upper to the insole,providing additional anchorage for the rib at the rear part of the shankrelatively to other portions of the rib, sewing a shoe upper and a weltto the insole and utilizing said anchored portion of the rib at the rearpart of the shank to pull the upper and the welt snugly against theinsole rib, and thereafter sewing an outsole to the welt and completingits manufacture in the usual manner.

9. That improvement in methods of making close shank welt shoes whichconsists in producing an insole with a sewing rib to provide ananchorage for inseam stitches in attaching a shoe upper to the inseam,applying separate means to the sewing rib at the rear part of the shankto increase v *so 5. That improvement in methods of obthe anchorageofiered by the sewing rib at this point, and thereafter sewing the out:

sole to the welt and completing its manu-i facture V 10. A welt shoeinsole having a sewing rib to which inseam stitches are, anchored inattachinga shoe-upper to the insole, said sewing, rib at the rear partof the shank provide additional anchorage for inseam' stitchesrelatively to other portions of the sewing rib. V V

. 12. A welt shoe insole having a marginal sewing rib folded inwardly atits rear end,

relatively to other portions of the sewing rib, and a fastening holdingthe sewing rib in said folded position for it to resist outwardlydirectedstrain. I

A welt shoe insole having a sewing rib upstarntling around the forepartof the shoe and along the forepart of the shank, said rib being bentinwardly away from the adjacent edge of the insole and downwardly towardthe body of the insole in the rear part of the shank. i

14. A welt sh insole having a sewing rib freely upstanding around theforepart Of h nsole n m ans r ho i g th ea endtportionof said rib in theshankv against outwardlyv directed strain.-

15. A iweltvshoe insole havinga sewing rib formed into position tendingto locate theinse'am farther inwardly from the edge of theinsolein therear part ofthe shank than in the forepart of the shank.

16. Areinforced welt shoe insole having a sewing rib including anupturned portion of the insole bodyand a portion of the reinforcingmaterial, said rib beingrfolded inwardly and secured by a fasteningatits' inforcing material, said rib being secured at its rear endagainst bending or being pulled outwardly. Y r r 18; That improvement inmethods of 0b-' taining close shanks in welt shoes which consists informing the insole with a sewing rib upstanding around the forepart andthe forward portion of the shank of the shoe and in forming the rib topresent an undercut inner wall at the rear end of theshank, and inengaging the channel guide of the inseam sewing machine with saidundercut inner wall to sew the upper close to the root of the rib attherear end of the shank while inseaming the shoe.

In testimony name to thisspecification.

Gnonen H. BLACK.

Copies of this patent n a 'yi he min {qr five cents each, by addressingthe Gomh11ssioner of Patents,

H pw z fi n V V whereof I have signed my

